Tuesday, March 24, 2009

I always thought home fries would be more difficult to make; I'm not really sure why. Turns out, it's super easy.

You take a couple pounds of waxy potatoes (I halved it and just used a pound). You can peel them, but it's not necessary (I like them skin-on anyway, so it's a non-issue). Put some neutral oil in your pan, and when it's hot, add the potatoes and DO NOT MESS WITH THEM for ten minutes, until they start to darken and they release easily. If you try to move them too soon, they will stick. Trust me, but more importantly, trust Bittman.

After the ten minutes or so, just stir occasionally til you think they're done (depends how you like it, I guess, but I like mine pretty well done so it took another 15 minutes or so). Towards the end, Bittman says to turn the heat up a bit more to give them a little more crispness, which works nicely. Don't forget to salt them while they're still hot. I drained them out a bit on some paper towels and then made eggs in the oil still left in the pan.

This egg isn't a recipe from How to Cook Everything, but it looks delicious in this picture, doesn't it?

About

I’m setting out to cook each and every recipe in How to Cook Everything, Mark Bittman’s guide to, well, cooking everything.There’s no set time frame (it will probably take years).Please join me, and feel free to leave a comment or get in touch.